CREDIT: GETTY IMAGES
Robbie Keane turned the table on the San Jose Earthquakes last round, as his two second leg goals put his L.A. Galaxy through to the next round of the playoffs.

There is a severe problem with predicting outcomes in soccer, specifically the MLS. Last week I made a few predictions about who would advance through the MLS playoffs. I, admittedly, got all but one incorrect.

The Houston vs. Sporting Kansas City was the only tie that I managed to guess correctly, as Houston held on to their first leg 2- 0 lead to come across in the second with a 1-0 loss.

I have been approached by people who frequent sports betting sites or Pro-Line and asked, "How do I go about betting on soccer?" I tell them to not even bother.

Major League Soccer is set up just like many other North American sports leagues... with a salary cap. The cap controls teams from overspending, obviously. But the MLS sees more randomness than any other league.

Sporting and San Jose both crashed out in the first round, both of which were the top seeded teams.

The league thrives off of the mediocrity. Almost every team in the league can finish anywhere year to year, sometimes completely out of the blue.

In fact, only six out of the first 16 seasons have seen a Supporters Shield (regular season champion) win the playoff round (MLS Cup). This may all seem like a fairly common thing amongst North American sports fan, as most leagues see similar results.

But the only advice I'd give to soccer betters is that European leagues are much more straightforward. There always seems to be a clear winner and loser before the game, as leagues are sorted in class by tiers of teams. For example, there will always be a group of teams who will finish at the top of the table in England, as there will be in France, meanwhile there is another group who will be right behind them. The MLS is one of the only soccer leagues in the world that doesn't have that, and instead has parity throughout the board.

Take the New York Cosmos for example. Back in the 1970s and '80s, a league called the North American Soccer League catapulted into popular culture after the arrival of great players like Pelé and George Best to the league. The Cosmos were a dominant team in that era, with Pelé and Franz Beckenbauer among others. The Cosmos have been reborn, and will play in the new reboot of the NASL next season, with MLS aspirations. However, the brass at New York believes in a league without a salary cap, as they honour their history of attracting the best players in the world. The MLS could be at a crossroad in the next decade; make a push to become a truly top league, or continue on this sustainable yet constrained model.

So, as the crapshoot continues, don't throw down any bets all willy-nilly. The MLS is very scary to the smart gambler who does his homework. I made my first sports bet a few weeks ago on the MLS and managed to get all of them incorrect (including betting against my beloved Toronto FC team versus Montreal). Never again.